Adrian
Despite my calm countenance, I felt my insides turned, and my lips almost clamored.
The shot had sent tremors down my spine, and my body was still in shock, but there was Nikolai, staring at me with a smug on his face.
I froze for a minute.
He didn’t move, not even an inch.
Neither did he blink.
The shot had come from the gun between his legs but Nikolai’s eyes only had his unusual indifference.
As though if he were mistakenly hit, he still wouldn’t bat an eye.
“What?
Never heard a gun shot before?” Nikolai raised his brows at me, and an inexplicable amount of irritation crawled on my skin.
Nikolai leaned forward and suddenly the sound of heels gently clicking the floor, walked towards our direction, and it caused my interest.
“Adrian!” Isabelle yelled and I didn’t waste a moment before responding.
“In here…” I walked past Nikolai, making sure my shoulder crashed into his arm.
I was aiming for his shoulders, but this man was 6.5″ tall, while I was a mesly 6″ tall.
“There was a gun shot…”
Before I could respond Nikolai muttered-
“That was me.”
Isabelle looked a bit curious.
Her eyes seemed to kept drifting between mine and Nikolai’s, and when she spot the gun on the floor, and the hole on the wall, she wobbled her head and said-
“It’s good you are still alive Adrian.”
I squinted my eyes at her, and genuinely, she seemed to mean every words.
Her cold gaze at Nikolai’s told me everything I needed to know.
She suspected he made the shot.
Her eyes trailed my body, checking if there was a scratch.
When she didn’t find any, a breath of relief escaped her nostril.
“We still haven’t completed the marriage plans, do follow me.”
She clasped her hand with mine, and lend me to the living room.
“Where have you been?” Leonardo didn’t fail to yell, forgetting he wasn’t in his home.
“Just around.”
“Actually, Adrian was with uncle Nikolai.
They finally got along.” Isabelle smiled gently lying between her teeth.
“We did?”
My brows knitted, ‘was he that scary?
Nikolai Volkov.’
He walked into the room, and everyone’s eyes shifted to him.
As though he was carrying a cold air around him, he sent a chill round the room.
From the moment I saw him, he had piqued my interest.
Even now, despite knowing how much danger my life was in every minute my gaze meets his, I still couldn’t look away.
There was a momentary silence, but then-
“The wedding will be coming Saturday.” Gabriel interrupted.
“That’s so soon…” Isabelle bit her lips.
“The sooner the better sweetheart.” Liliana held Isabelle’s hand.
“Adrian what do you think?” Gabriel asked.
“I have no complains.”
Everyone was satisfied and we clicked our glasses to celebrate.
The evening passed by just like that, but oddly enough, Nikolai had since left.
…..
The night seemed rather long.
I laid on the bed unable to catch a sleep.
I stretched my hands to the bed side drawer and grabbed my water bottle, but it was empty.
With a sigh, I stood to go fetch some water.
It didn’t took more than four minutes to shut the kitchen doors.
But the lights suddenly switched on, and I saw Leonardo standing on the top on the stairway.
We haven’t had a word since we left the Mancini’s.
I knew he would be excited that his plans were finally on a motion.
Instead of expressing his excitement, he frowned all day, acting like he normally does.
“Come to my office.” His voice echoed down the stairs and he turned his back at me.
I made my way to his office, and immediately I got inside, Leonardo spread a sheet on the table.
There was a sketch on it, it looked like a blueprint of a house.
“This is the Mancini’s estate.
Just the areas I was shown today.”
My eyes shockingly raised to look at him.
One visit, and he had made a sketch?
“This is Nikolai’s office.
Since he manages the businesses, every information we need will be in there.”
“That’s your first mission.”
“I will first crush their businesses and render them useless, for my revenge.”
“But that’s Nikolai’s office.
It wouldn’t be easy to enter.” I looked at him.
“Didn’t you say you both already get along?
What’s a mere office you cannot enter?”
I was stunned.
This man seems to want my immediate death.
“You were at their house, smiling with everyone and making friends forgetting they are your enemies.” He snarled.
I could only stare in disbelief.
“Make a request to the Mancini’s, tell them you want to leave in the estate even before the wedding, after all, the wedding will be taking place in their estate.”
“Why the hurry?” I frowned.
“This task should be completed before the wedding.”
I stared into his eyes, and the only thing I could see was an extreme hate for me.
“If I’m caught, the wedding will not hold.
Why don’t we wait, so I can…”
He struck my face without letting me finish.
“All evening you stood there, smiling and dinning with the enemies as if you were one of them.
Remember your place!”
He then walked out.
The blueprint blurred before my eyes.
My own death, neatly mapped out between inked lines and perfect measurements.
If I got caught, there’d be no negotiations, no second chances.
Just silence.
Just Nikolai watching as the life drained from my eyes.
It was certain that even though they had smiled all evening, they were very much alert.
I laid back on the bed, it was almost past three hours since I came back up.
The clouds were beginning to show traces of brightness, and I haven’t even caught a whisk of sleep.
How was I going to make the request?
Suddenly my phone beeped, and when I looked on the screen a message appeared.
‘Dont forget, we need to go for the cake testing.’